I've long been fascinated by the intersection of mathematics and music. From the exploration of power laws in the music of Bach, Ravel, and Coltrane to the sonification of number sequences, I am often transfixed by their interrelationship and their coexistence as alternate reflections of the world around us.
Films
Climate Songs: Sea Change
00:01:56
Sonification and animation by Harlan J. Brothers
Based on data from the NASA Open Data Portal: https://doi.org/10.5067/NSIND-GMSV1 and data from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/global/time-series
Anthropogenic climate change is a defining issue of our time. A major challenge is how to help people appreciate both the reality and the magnitude of the problem.
Numbers themselves can be informative, but in raw form, they’re not easily digestible for most people. Graphs, charts, and animations are therefore indispensable for conveying numerical data. An auditory channel can add a visceral sense of understanding.
This music video is a simultaneous rendering of the global rise in sea level and sea surface temperature. The data comes from the NASA Open Data Portal and NCEI and represents monthly changes from January 1993 through November 2025. The sea level plot begins in green and is played by the oud. The temperature plot begins in yellow and is played by the acoustic bass.
Here is an article in the Medium publication Science Spectrum that describes how I produced the video:
https://tinyurl.com/mjnspkbn
Recamán's Blues
00:03:11
Sonification and animation by Harlan J. Brothers
Graphic inspiration from a visualization by Edmund Harriss
Recamán's sequence is an excellent example of how simple mathematical rules can lead to beautiful and unexpectedly rich patterns, both in the visual and audio domains.
The animation itself is derived from Edmund Harriss's elegant and well-known visualization. To learn more about this amazing sequence and how the animation was produced, see "The Ultimate Guide to Recamán's Sequence" in the Medium publication Science Spectrum:
https://tinyurl.com/exwbb64m
¡Un agradecimiento especial a Bernardo Recamán Santos por la inspiración inicial y por sus amables palabras de apreciación!